Last year, Erik Soby from Toronto thought he had a good chance of being admitted to medical school. He excelled in the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and had an impressive GPA. However, he was ultimately rejected during the application process, and he believes the culprit was a "mysterious test" that has been increasingly adopted by medical schools in recent years—the CASPer exam.

"This is the only part of my scores that falls below average," Soby said. "That's why I was rejected in the end."

Medical School Application Threshold Raised? Widespread Use of Mysterious CASPer Exam

Every year, thousands of applicants in Canada compete for a very limited number of medical school slots, putting immense pressure on admission officers. To more effectively screen applicants, 12 out of 17 Canadian medical schools, including the University of Toronto, McGill University, and UBC, now require candidates to take the CASPer exam, with some even weighting it as high as 30% of their admission criteria.

CASPer, or "Computer-Based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics," was originally developed by McMaster University to assess applicants' "soft skills" such as empathy, moral judgment, and communication abilities through scenario-based questions.

The test format includes both written and video responses, involving ethical dilemma scenarios. For example, one question might ask: "You are considering investing in a company with a history of controversial actions against climate change. What do you think?" Candidates need to weigh the pros and cons and respond accordingly.

However, what frustrates Soby and many other applicants is that this exam is almost completely opaque.

Untransparent Scoring, No Appeals, and Mystery Standards...

Students taking the CASPer exam will never know their exact score but receive a vague "level" (one of four tiers) relative to their peers. They also have no idea who the scorers are, how they are evaluated, or where they fell short and needed improvement.

"We have the right to know our percentile ranking, given the impact of this exam," Soby said.

The "Go Public" column has received feedback from over 20 medical school applicants expressing doubts about the CASPer exam:

  • "The entire process is opaque and frustrating."
  • "It took me five attempts to finally get accepted."
  • "I wrote it three times and have serious doubts about this exam."
  • "This exam should be abolished!"

In addition, each CASPer exam costs 50 CAD, with an additional 18 CAD charged for submitting results to each school. This means an applicant applying to five schools would spend 140 CAD just on CASPer fees alone.

Who Are the Scorers? Online Scorers Can Earn Up to $1 per Answer!

Even more concerning is that the scorers of CASPer may lack any professional background. According to media findings, Acuity Insights, the company that developed and operates CASPer, posted job ads inviting people from all walks of life to become scorers, paying between 30-50 CAD per hour, with 65 CAD per written response and 1 CAD per video response.

No professional qualifications or medical backgrounds were required for these roles.

The company responded by stating that they monitor the speed at which scorers evaluate answers to ensure they spend sufficient time reviewing them. They believe that a diverse team of scorers can better represent the multicultural patient groups future doctors will serve.

Severe Criticism from Experts: No Evidence Proves CASPer Works!

However, the greatest criticism comes from top experts in medical education.

Jennifer Cleland, a professor at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore and an internationally renowned expert in medical school selection research, stated bluntly: "There is no evidence showing that CASPer can predict students' future performance."

In an interview with CBC, Cleland expressed shock at the research materials provided by CASPer: "The quality of the research is very poor; much of it hasn't been published in peer-reviewed journals, and some is merely conference abstracts with extremely small sample sizes, making it impossible to draw any credible conclusions."

For instance, one study claimed that CASPer could predict which residents would have fewer professional conduct issues, but the sample size was only 31. "This scale is far too small to draw any scientific conclusions," Cleland said.

In addition, she pointed out that many authors of these studies are either founders or employees of CASPer, creating conflicts of interest.

Government Funding for This Test? Being Promoted to Nurses, Dentists, Engineers!

Since 2018, Acuity Insights has received nearly 2.5 million CAD in funding from the National Research Council of Canada. Not only in medicine, but CASPer has also been extended to nurses, dentists, physical therapists, and even undergraduate engineering programs at Western University and teacher training programs at the University of Alberta.

Experts warn that the widespread use of a test without proven validity raises deep concerns about its impact on students' futures and educational equity.

Although Soby failed last year, he remains undeterred and took the CASPer exam again this summer, awaiting his admissions results. He also publicly criticized the "black box" nature of this exam on TikTok in hopes of drawing public and university attention.

"Medical schools should listen to these criticisms," he said. "More importantly, the public should know what's happening."

Source of News:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/gopublic/casper-test-medical-school-1.7507308

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7493363617761460771/

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